The general use of nonwoven fabrics as a component in cleaning and/or cleansing articles is well known in the art. Various cleaning products, and specifically personal hygiene, baby and hard surface wipes, are commercially available which utilize one or more layers of nonwoven fabrics in the construction of said wipe. Substantially, these wipes are two-dimensional or planar in construction. As the surface topography of such two-dimensional wipes is inherently restricted by the composition of the wipe, frictional cleaning induced by the composition is limited, thus necessitating increased consumption of said wipe to effect satisfactory levels of cleanliness or other treatment of the surface.
Attempts have been made to induce three-dimensionality into the conventional wipe in order to improve cleaning performance. Prior art materials such as certain high-end consumer baby wipes have incorporated an elastic film to induce crenulation of the resultant wipe surface. While this practice can induce a limited level of three-dimensionality, that effect is transitory and can be easily removed when the wipe is distended during subsequent converting processes and/or end-use by the consumer.
Similarly, cleaning wipes have also been fabricated by application of various embossing processes. Again, these processes impart a three-dimensionality that can be reduced, if not removed, from the surface topography of the wipe when subjected to distention and pressure forces encountered during converting and use.
Substrates of particular importance in the treatment, cleaning, and cleansing market include those fabrics that are imparted with macroscopic apertures, or otherwise exhibit regions devoid of substrate matrix, wherein such apertures are greater than about 0.5 millimeter in diameter. It is has been conjectured by the fabricators of these facial cleansing products practicing the use of such apertured fabric that the presence of the macroscopic apertures improve the ability of the substrate to quickly build a beneficial lather during the cleansing process.
The presence of macroscopic apertures in a facial cleansing product has been found to be difficult and complex to fabricate due to a need to have an absolute minimum in the occurrences of occluded apertures. Occlusion of the aperture, for example by the fibrous matrix of a nonwoven substrate, has multiple deleterious effects. First, the occlusion results in an expected reduction of efficacy during a lather generation procedure due to the further constriction of the occlusion by the buildup of applied detergent agents. Second, an apertured substrate is difficult to fabricate so as to be functional and at the same time aesthetically pleasing. The very real problem of aesthetic appeal to the end-user is based on the fact that the human eye is attracted to variation in repeating patterns. An intermittent occlusion, even if only subtle in degree, will result in the user perception of a low quality product. The need for uniformity of apertures must be anticipated during the fabrication process and substrate material rejected should the aperture clarity at any time fall outside of predetermined specifications, thus leading to an exceedingly high level of potential substrate material being rejected.
There remains a need for a nonwoven substrate, which exhibits resilient three-dimensionality combined with a plurality of orifices, which extend through at least part of the plane of the substrate, that allows for transmission of fluids, as well as other applied or embedded chemistries, from one side or surface of the substrate, or from a region internal to the substrate, to the side which is in communication with the formed orifice. Said orifices are durably formed so as to be sub-millimeter in diameter, with the range of about 0.03 to 0.5 millimeter being optimal so as to avoid deleterious occlusion and objectionable aesthetic performance, and yet allow for fluidic communication.